Restructuring data packets to improve voice quality at low bandwidth conditions in wireless networks

1. A method for transmitting a plurality of real-time protocol (RTP) data packets based on an audio input from a first client device to a wireless communications network in a communication session, the method comprising: receiving the audio input corresponding to a user on the first client device during the communication session; encoding the received audio input into audio frames comprising audio data indicative of the audio input based on a set of parameters; measuring a bandwidth utilization of the wireless communications network based on a real-time bandwidth indicator; determining if the bandwidth utilization is above one of a first pre-determined threshold, a second pre-determined threshold and a third pre-determined threshold; removing a portion of the audio data if the bandwidth utilization is above the first pre-determined threshold after encoding the audio input in response to measuring the bandwidth utilization, wherein removing the portion of the audio data comprises removing at least one audio frame, at least one of the audio frames, at least two of the audio frames and a set of least significant bytes; creating a first notification message upon removing the at least two of the audio frames from the plurality of RTP data packets if the bandwidth utilization is above the second pre-determined threshold; creating a second notification message if the bandwidth utilization is above the second pre-determined threshold for a pre-determined time period; terminating transmission of the plurality of RTP data packets upon expiry of a flow-off timer if the bandwidth utilization is above the third pre-determined threshold; creating a third notification message upon terminating the transmission of the plurality of RTP data packets if the bandwidth utilization is above the third pre-determined threshold; grouping the audio frames into the plurality of RTP data packets upon removing the portion of the audio data; and transmitting the plurality of RTP data packets over the wireless communications network, wherein the communication session is selected from the group consisting of: a push-to-talk session, a push-to-talk over cellular session, and a voice over IP (VOIP) session.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one audio frame is from each of a selected set of the plurality of RTP data packets based on uplink bandwidth utilization condition.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the removing the portion of the audio data comprises: removing the at least one of the audio frames from the selected set of the plurality of RTP data packets if the bandwidth utilization is above the first pre-determined threshold; and removing the at least two of the audio frames from the selected set of the plurality of RTP data packets if the bandwidth utilization is above the second pre-determined threshold.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the removing the portion of the audio data comprises removing the set of least significant bytes from each of a selected set of audio frames after encoding the audio input in response to measuring the bandwidth utilization.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprises: creating a first notification message upon removing the set of least significant bytes from each of a selected set of audio frames if the bandwidth utilization is above a second pre-determined threshold; creating a second notification message if the bandwidth utilization is above the second pre-determined threshold for a pre-determined time period; terminating transmission of the plurality of RTP data packets upon expiry of a flow-off timer if the bandwidth utilization is above a third pre-determined threshold; and creating a third notification message upon terminating the transmission of the plurality of RTP data packets if the bandwidth utilization is above the third pre-determined threshold.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the bandwidth utilization is measured based upon the real-time bandwidth indicator selected from the group consisting of: IP buffer length, QoS degradation, RTCP receiver reports, and packet sent indication data.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprises: receiving the plurality of RTP data packets from the wireless communications network by a second client device; augmenting the received plurality of RTP data packets with a plurality of dummy bits to reproduce the audio input; decoding the plurality of RTP data packets into the audio frames based on the set of parameters; and reproducing the audio input based upon the audio frames on the second client device.

8. A client device for transmitting a plurality of RTP data packets based on an audio input over a RTP communications network during a communication session, the client device configured to: receive the audio input corresponding to a user for transmission on the wireless communications network during the communication session; encode the received audio input into audio frames comprising audio data indicative of the audio input based on a set of parameters; measure a bandwidth utilization of the wireless communications network based on a real-time bandwidth indicator; determine if the bandwidth utilization is above one of a first pre-determined threshold, a second pre-determined threshold and a third pre-determined threshold; remove a portion of the audio data if the bandwidth utilization is above the first pre-determined threshold after encoding the audio input in response to measuring the bandwidth utilization, wherein removing the portion of the audio data comprises removing at least one audio frame, at least one of the audio frames, at least two of the audio frames and a set of least significant bytes; create a first notification message upon removing at least two of the audio frames from the selected set of the plurality of RTP data packets if the bandwidth utilization is above the second pre-determined threshold; create a second notification message if the bandwidth utilization is above the second pre-determined threshold for a pre-determined time period; terminate transmission of the plurality of RTP data packets upon expiry of a flow-off timer if the bandwidth utilization is above the third pre-determined threshold; create a third notification message upon terminating the transmission of the plurality of RTP data packets if the bandwidth utilization is above the third pre-determined threshold; group the audio frames into the plurality of RTP data packets upon removing the portion of the audio data; and transmit the plurality of RTP data packets over the wireless communications network, wherein the communication session is selected from the group consisting of: a push-to-talk session, a push-to-talk over cellular session, and a voice over IP (VOIP) session.

9. The client device of claim 8 , wherein the removing the at least one audio frame is from each of a selected set of the plurality of RTP data packets based on uplink bandwidth utilization condition.

10. The client device of claim 8 , wherein the client device configured to remove the portion of the audio data by: removing at least one of the audio frames from the selected set of the plurality of RTP data packets if the bandwidth utilization is above the first pre-determined threshold; and removing at least two of the audio frames from the selected set of the plurality of RTP data packets if the bandwidth utilization is above the second pre-determined threshold.

11. The client device of claim 8 , wherein the client device configured to remove the portion of the audio data by removing the set of least significant bytes from each of a selected set of audio frames after encoding the audio input in response to measuring the bandwidth utilization.

12. The client device of claim 8 , wherein the client device configured to measure bandwidth utilization measures the real-time bandwidth indicator selected from the group consisting of: IP buffer length, QoS degradation, RTCP receiver reports, and packet sent indication data.

13. The client device of claim 8 , wherein the client device is further configured to: receive the plurality of RTP data packets from the wireless communications network by a second client device; augment the received plurality of RTP data packets with a plurality of dummy bits to reproduce the audio input; decode the plurality of RTP data packets into the audio frames based on the set of parameters; and reproduce the audio input based upon the audio frames on the second client device.

14. A client device enabled to transmit a plurality of RTP data packets based on an audio input over a wireless communications network in a communication session comprising: a CODEC configured to create audio frames comprising audio data representative of an audio input based on a set of parameters; a RTP queue coupled to the CODEC and configured to temporarily store the audio frames; a queue manager configured to control the audio frames output from the RTP queue and further configured to remove audio data by removing audio frames from the RTP queue by: removing audio data from a selected set of the plurality of RTP data packets in response to determining that a received real-time bandwidth utilization indicator is above one of a first pre-determined threshold, a second pre-determined threshold and a third pre-determined threshold, wherein removing the audio data comprises removing at least one of the audio frames, at least two of the audio frames and a set of least significant bytes; wherein said queue manager provides a plurality of notification messages if the received real-time bandwidth utilization indicator exceeds the first pre-determined threshold, wherein the plurality of notification messages is provided by: creating a first notification message upon removing the at least two of the audio frames from the plurality of RTP data packets if the bandwidth utilization is above the second pre-determined threshold; creating a second notification message if the bandwidth utilization is above the second pre-determined threshold for a pre-determined time period; terminating transmission of the plurality of RTP data packets upon expiry of a flow-off timer if the bandwidth utilization is above the third pre-determined threshold; creating a third notification message upon terminating the transmission of the plurality of RTP data packets if the bandwidth utilization is above the third pre-determined threshold; a UDP/IP stack configured to group the audio frames into a plurality of RTP data packets upon removing the audio data; and a modem configured to transmit the plurality of RTP data packets over the communication network and to provide a real-time bandwidth utilization indicator to the queue manager.

15. The client device of claim 14 , wherein the audio data is removed by removing the audio frames from a selected set of the plurality of RTP data packets in response to the real-time bandwidth utilization indicator.

16. The client device of claim 14 , wherein the queue manager is further configured to remove the audio data by removing the at least some least significant bytes from the plurality of RTP data packets in response to the real-time bandwidth utilization indicator after encoding the audio input in response to measuring the bandwidth utilization.